January 21, 2015

At Loggerheads: Obama's Next-to-Last SOTU

So much for reaching across the aisle. With Pete snapping in the background, this shot of the protocol and security detail captured the feeling last night — of a chamber at loggerheads.

Obama — who, for so many years, was all about bipartisanship (1, 2) — was (apologies to John Lennon) still paying lip service.

And how old and tired was that “not blue state or red state, but purple state” meme with those ties?

Thus, after the mid-term debacle, the left half or more of the chamber had a red wall on display.

Not to mention, the thousand yard stares.

Just as futile, Obama went back to the well still imagining a national conversation about race. In the White House split screen, like a ’08 deja vu, his own experience was recalled once again as potential catalyst.

As telling (especially two days after MLK Day) was the appeal for — and acknowledgement of a still, ongoing battle over voting rights.

After his comment about having no more campaigns was met by frivolity, Obama’s off-the-cuff smack down was understandable. Regarding this Twitpic that made the rounds, it was informed as much by the racial tension in the country, be it from terror hysteria, immigration panic or police violence, as Obama’s course over the past six years of seeking consensus rather than sticking to his newly-embraced progressive principles.

Finally, our most popular tweet last night was: “ABC has a Liz Warren cam.” Of course, Warren was easy to find (and might continue to be as ’16 approaches) because of her lack of conflict surround those same ideals.

Beyond the left-right disconnect and the ideological tectonics, these two issues were essential to note. I can’t say it’s going to make a dent, but a President in a major domestic forum — as the White House again broadcast its own Powerpoint SOTU — finally punctuated climate change.

Still cooking, the administration’s split-screen “listen up” catches the supreme Supreme, the cabinet and prominent heads in the GOP.

Marriage equality came in for recognition too, Obama professing love is love … in 36 states.